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Presti said: “The records of the teams in the bottom four of the league are in line with those over the last 20 seasons. If anything, they are actually slightly above those averages. I’m missing the epidemic on this, really.”

Thunder general manager Sam Presti shared some interesting comments Wednesday when asked about teams that might be intentionally losing to boost their draft position, a strategy commonly referred to as tanking.

Thunder general manager Sam Presti spoke to the media at the Integris Health Thunder Development Center on Wednesday. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman

“Oddly enough, I think it’s a narrative that was created to tweak the league office, and they are showing to be quite reflexive to it,” Presti told The Oklahoman. “I’m actually a bit surprised they have fed into it and devoted so much public energy to it given the lack of evidence. The records of the teams in the bottom four of the league are in line with those over the last 20 seasons. If anything, they are actually slightly above those averages. I’m missing the epidemic on this, really. I would hope we’d focus our attention on a lot of the great things our players are doing and that the league has in place now. Maybe we can get to the five-point shot in the off-season.”

Presti’s comment at the end of the casual conversation about a five-point shot is in reference to the league reportedly looking into the possibility of adding a 4-point shot. An NBA spokesman, however, released a statement refuting an ESPN.com report last month, saying no one from the league or the competition committee has had any serious conversations about adding a 4-point line.

“ESPN.com chose to make a story that doesn’t exist,” the spokesman said.

ADAMS ON GASOL

After a solid defensive performance on Houston All-Star center Dwight Howard, rookie center Steven Adams must now turn his attention back to Pau Gasol, the Lakers center who gave Adams and the Thunder fits Sunday in Los Angeles.

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